


They Called Her Elizabeth

by RooftopRabbit91



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, I think with them it is..., Is hugging intimacy?, Loaded stares, Non-Sexual Intimacy, POV Alternating, POV Beth, POV Rio (Good Girls), Panic Attacks, Protective Rio (Good Girls), References to past trauma, Rio is a dramatic hoe, Soft Rio (Good Girls), Some Cursing, Some violence?, but they don't talk about it, but we love him anyways, mostly - Freeform, set in a version of S3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:47:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25978462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RooftopRabbit91/pseuds/RooftopRabbit91
Summary: Rio had seen Elizabeth scared before. The day he and his boys were ready to kill her. She has been scared but still somehow remained controlled. At least enough to come up with her speech about them being “good people.” Or maybe when he showed up to the bar, revealing himself to still be alive. But still, she was somehow controlled. Stayed quiet and calm until she was able to respond. But now? Elizabeth was terrified, fully uncontrollably terrified. She didn’t even look like her. That fire she always had in her eyes and the way she held herself, that made him feel she had potential, was gone. She was no longer Elizabeth at this moment. It bothered him. But this fucking guy kept calling her by that name anyways.Beth and Rio run into someone from her past.
Relationships: Beth Boland & Rio, Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 23
Kudos: 245





	1. Is It Really You?

**Author's Note:**

> This was only supposed to be like 500 words...it got away from me. 
> 
> My take on Beth's dad, and what that meet up after all these years would look like. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Beth thought things were good. Well, maybe not good, but she was definitely looking over her shoulder less and getting at least an hour more of sleep every night before the thoughts and worries got too loud again. Rio still hadn’t told her she was totally safe from him yet, but at least for now she was useful to him. Her money made her worth something. So things were... good. 

Her and the girls had been working really hard to get this next batch ready for him, and they still had almost a week before they had to deliver. So when she got a vague text from him, which were very few and far between these days, she started to worry. 

park. tmr. 2. dont bring your girls.

She called Ruby and Annie to come over after dinner so she could brainstorm if she had done anything to piss him off. But they quickly reassured her that if that was the case, he would have just shown up to her house, not invite her to the park which meant kids were allowed. 

After her second glass of bourbon that she gulped down once putting the kids to bed, she decided to do so herself. Dean wasn’t home yet and she just didn’t have enough in her to care about that anymore. She could be angry about it in the morning. 

Beth turned her 5 a.m. alarm off after one beep, glad that she could finally get out of bed. She had already been laying there for almost an hour, not able to fall back to sleep again. After she took a shower, got dressed, did her make up, made coffee, and got a good start on breakfast, Jane was running down the stairs. 

“Mommy, mommy!” How she was able to wake up this early as a seven year old was beyond Beth. 

“What is it baby?” She asked as she patted down her daughter’s rats’ nest of hair.

“Can we go to the park now pleeeease?” Of course that was the first thing to be said to her today.

“No baby, we aren’t going until after lunch.” She saw the pout settle on her daughter’s lips. “But guess what...” She said in her “this is exciting” voice. “I am making blueberry waffles for breakfast.” Jane’s eyes went really wide and then she smiled.

“Can I help mommy?” And how could Beth say no to that?

“Of course honey bear, get your stool.” 

One by one the rest of the kids made their way downstairs, and sat at the counter awaiting the food that they smelled as soon as they woke up.

And as Beth saw all of her children smiling, and drowning their plates in syrup, the exhaustion and worry she had from last night slowly drifted away.

When they were finally all ready to leave ‒Kenny helping Jane tie her shoes, and Beth reapplying her lipstick in the mirror ‒ Dean walked through the front door. 

“Daddy!” Emma screamed, running to him and throwing her arms around his middle. 

“Where are you all headed?” Dean questioned. Before Beth could answer him, Jane answered for her. 

“Mommy is taking us all to the park!” She was basically jumping up and down at this point. “She said that I might be able to see Marcus this time, but she’s not sure.” Dean held his smile but she could see the disapproval in his eyes as he looked up at her.

“Oh really Bethie?” His voice was tight. She stared right back at him. She didn’t need this right now.

“I have to go Dean.” She sounded patronizing, but she really didn’t care. 

“Well I guess then I’ll just come with you then.” 

“Dean‒”

“Yay! Daddy’s coming!”

“Daddy could you push me on the swings?” 

So, Beth looked in the mirror one last time, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then they made their way to the van. Fine. Things would be fine. 

…

Rio originally planned on bringing Marcus, that was the reason he chose the park to meet up with her. Well that, and the fact that he really wasn’t in the mood to fight and having the kids there would help stop that. But Rhea asked him to switch a couple of their days around, and as he said: he was done with fighting. 

He’s had a long week. It turns out being dead for a few months makes quite the hard impact on his long running business deals and contacts. And after having to deal with a fifth low life deadbeat encroaching on his territory, he was about to snap. No matter what people might think of him, killing people isn’t actually high up on his list of enjoyable activities. And as much as he loved pushing Elizabeth’s buttons he couldn’t deal with any of her bullshit right now. So. The park. 

He checked his phone for the third time. 2:03. But before he could get mad that she was late, something else entirely made his jaw tighten. Right there beside Elizabeth, leading her brood across the parking lot, was her bitch ass of a husband. What the hell was he doing here?

He saw her kids run off ahead of them and then her stopping to talk to Dean. She looked over at him for a second and then refocused herself back to the idiot in front of her. He could tell she wasn’t yelling but her words must have been harsh enough because before he knew it Dean went after the kids and sat on a bench right next to the play structure. But not before giving him a very pointed glare. It was almost cute.

Elizabeth was heading towards him where he sat on the opposite side of the park, but he stood and motioned his head towards a picnic table near some trees. The bench seat was now annoying him; it was looking straight towards where car-man was sitting. He didn’t want to be in the view of that idiot, or necessarily have to look at him either.

He sat on the table like he always did, facing toward the entire park as she finally reached him. 

“You’re late.” She nodded and sat down on the table beside him, but deliberately left plenty of room between them.

“Yeah.” Was all she responded with. He clenched his jaw.

“What the hell is he doing here, I told you to come alone.” He tried to reign in the venom in his voice. It’s not like he cared, he was just annoyed she didn’t listen to him. He knew she was still afraid of him. 

“No you didn’t.” He raised an eyebrow at that. “You told me not to bring Annie or Ruby, you didn’t say anything about Dean.” He scoffed. “He’s just watching the kids.” And well, Rio mused, that wasn’t entirely inaccurate. 

“Yeah ‘cause that’s exactly why he came.” He had his elbows resting on his knees and resting his chin in his palm, his head turned toward her. She was glancing at the grass below her and lifting her eyes to him every so often. 

“Why am I here? It can’t be the money, we’re supposed to have until the end of the week.” 

“Yeah turns out I’m gonna need a little more ready by then.” He saw her bite her tongue. He was amused how she tried to hold back more now. She knew exactly what he could do to her, or would do to her. She was trying to be smart.

Part of him missed it though. The angry and quick witted responses Elizabeth gave. But the time for that was over. It was over the second she released that first bullet into his chest. 

“How much more?” 

“Mmmm 100 g’s would be good.” She was fully looking at him now. 

“You can’t really expect that, that’s double of what we are making right now, and even if you gave us more time‒” Her voice was ice cold at this point. It amused him. “‒which you aren’t‒we don’t even have enough money to make a new batch, since someone isn’t giving us a cut.” She huffed and looked away from him trying to shake off her anger. 

“Yeah I don’t really got time for your bitchin’, I tell you to do somethin’ and you do it, yeah?” 

She still wasn’t looking at him, which was fine, but it seemed like she was ignoring him. Actually it looked like she was focused on something across the park. He followed her gaze, expecting it to land on her kids, but it was on her idiot of a husband. He was talking to some older white guy. What the hell? She could stare at his ugly ass face at home, right now he was trying to negotiate some business, so he didn’t have to kill her this week. 

“Elizabeth.” He was too annoyed at this point to even try to use a softer tone. She still didn’t look at him. He reached his hand out to yank her arm. “Elizabeth.” 

She turned to him and before he could begin to yell at her, he looked in her eyes. They were wide open and her face was white. Like a lot more than normal. He tilted his head, confused at her reaction. She usually wasn’t this afraid of him. 

He saw her look away from him again, glancing back in front of her, and now he noticed that the man from the bench was walking towards them. 

“I have..um need..have to...” She was spluttering her words and her hands were shaking when she reached to grab her purse.

“Eliz--” Before he could even finish saying her name, someone else was finishing it for him. It was the man. He was in talking distance from them now. 

“Elizabeth?!” He saw her freeze, and then slowly turn around, standing now. She looked at him and for the first time he couldn’t tell what she was trying to tell him with her eyes. 

The man was now standing right in front of her with a smile on his face. When she looked away from him he expected her to meet the man’s eyes and point out her chin; what she always did in preparation for a conversation. But now he saw her hesitant to make eye contact and trying to make herself smaller. 

“Elizabeth, I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw you. You’ve grown up so well.” He was an older man, probably in his sixties, grey hair, clean shaven, tall and broad shoulders. And his eyes, strikingly blue, lingered on certain parts of her body. Rio noticed exactly how he looked at her and it didn’t sit right with him. No matter how much he knows he isn’t responsible for protecting her anymore, he stood up and stood next to her. 

It seems that him standing up behind her was enough to get her brain to start working enough to respond. 

“Yes, umm hello, it’s been a while.” She sounded quiet and timid almost. Rio was still very confused. 

The man threw his head back and laughed. 

“Yes I would agree with you, it has been more than 25 years. I think that qualifies as ‘a while’.” It was silent for a moment, but the man went on. “I spoke to a man over there, Dean? I believe he is your husband; he pointed out your children.” Rio was so focused on the man in front of him he didn’t notice Beth stiffened even more. 

“Yes, I have, I mean, we have four.” The man nodded in response. 

“Well I bet you make a wonderful mother.” It was silent again. Why was Elizabeth being so quiet? She normally always took every opportunity to talk. 

“Elizabeth...” The man’s tone was stern and it finally made him look to see her reaction. It was the first time he looked at her since he stood up. 

Rio had seen Elizabeth scared before. The day he and his boys were ready to kill her. She has been scared but still somehow remained controlled. At least enough to come up with her speech about them being “good people.” Or maybe when he showed up to the bar, revealing himself to still be alive. But still she was somehow controlled. Stayed quiet and calm until she was able to respond. But now? Elizabeth was terrified, fully uncontrollably terrified. She didn’t even look like her. That fire she always had in her eyes and the way she held herself, that made him feel she had potential, was gone. She was no longer Elizabeth at this moment. It bothered him. But this fucking guy kept calling her by that name anyways.

“What do you say when I give you a compliment.” Rio could tell he was chastising her like a child. 

“Thank you Sir.” He could tell she was trying to get her voice to sound a little more solid. She looked up from her fidgeting hands to look back to the man’s eyes. He slightly nodded his head in acceptance of her words. 

Rio coughed. He was over getting ignored, he wanted, no, needed, some answers. The man finally pulled his eyes away from the woman beside him and noticed his presence fully. 

“Who is this?” The judgement in his voice was not at all subtle. “Why are you talking to this man, he looks like some common thug.” Rio scoffed. He had enough of whatever the fuck this was. 

“Nah, I like to consider myself more of an entrepreneur.” He noticed she had gone back to staring at her hands. “Now we were in the middle of something before you interrupted, so you want to introduce yourself?” Rio raised his eyebrows in question. Then he leaned a bit forward. “Or how ‘bout you just leave, yeah?”

The man looked between the two of them, shock apparent on his face. 

“Well…” he said through a haughty huff, “I have no idea who you think you are, but my name is Phil Marks and this is my daughter, who I have not seen and quite some time and am trying to reconnect with.” He motioned towards Beth with his hand. “Now if you..” he pointed into Rio’s chest, “could leave that would be great.”

Before Rio could even respond, or process how this man was Elizabeth’s father, Phil had grabbed Beth by the arm pulling her towards him.

“Come on Elizabeth, how about you introduce me to your kids.” 

Before the last word barely left his lips Elizabeth had roughly pulled her arm away from him. 

“No.” Her voice was slowly starting to sound like hers again. Phil looked like he was slowly losing his temper. 

“Elizabeth, let’s go.” He grabbed her arm again. “I want to meet my grandkids.” She pulled away this time having to partly push him off due to his stronger grip. 

“NO!” Her voice was definitely loud at this point. But although her voice was yelling her body looked the opposite. She was shaking at this point, arms wrapped around herself. 

Rio decided he had enough. He walked up right into the man’s space and turned his body so he could lift his shirt enough for his gun to be visible. 

“Yeah I really think it’s time you leave, don’t you think.” Rio knew in this moment the sharpness in his voice and the darkness in his eyes made him nothing less than intimidating. 

And with a quick steeling of the jaw and a glance at Elizabeth the man turned and started to walk away. 

“Yo Phil!” Rio called out. He turned around. “You don’t EVER touch her again. Understood?” And then he turned right back around and walked away. Rio’s eyes followed him as he got further and further, until he got into a car and drove away. Good.


	2. I Can't Believe It

Beth keeps looking at her hands as if they somehow held all the answers. Every nerve ending on her body managed to shut off around his first utterance of her name. It was like her body was somehow trying to protect her and in doing so made her feel absolutely nothing. And when he touched her arm all of a sudden she felt like her skin was crawling. Her brain wasn’t even registering their conversation even though she was somehow responding... but the mention of her kids….and the feeling of those hands on her again. Well, Beth was one to always trust instincts. 

She was so out of it that it was only by the fourth time Rio called out to her she realized he was still there, standing in front of her. 

“Hey, you good?” 

She lifted her eyes to his but was still too spaced to notice the hint of caution and gentleness on his face. Her brain was way too scattered and her skin still felt like he was touching her, she subconsciously started scratching herself. 

“Im fine, I need to lea--” The words felt like cotton on her tongue and made her mouth feel heavy. She didn’t even finish what she was trying to say because as she turned to look at her kids and also Dean, she saw he was looking at them and was about to start walking over to them. She wondered how much he actually saw. Probably not much if he was just coming over there now. 

But as she processed Dean was about to come over there all demanding, she was still actively balancing herself to stay on her feet. She knew she couldn’t handle him right now. 

“Please. I can’t--” And she figured her thoughts must have been plastered all over her face, because he walked up to her but was still wary of getting too close.

“Come on Eliz--” He bit his tongue. He started walking towards the car lot waving her to follow. Before she knew it she was getting goaded into his backseat. She heard the door shut and didn’t need to look up to know he was sitting on the seat beside her. 

“We’ll sit here for a minute, yeah?” His voice sounded like it was underwater, and her head felt too heavy to hold up anymore. She fell forward and wrapped her arms around her knees trying to fold in on herself. Just needing it to all stop. For just a second. She still felt like his eyes were on her, his hand, but then the thoughts started getting too scrambled; confusing her. Her brain overwhelming her senses in years of stashed away memories. 

She learned a trick early on in her life to ground herself whenever she spiralled like this. Use her senses to bring her back, focus on her surroundings, it was meant to ground her. But now? Every sense was overwhelmed. Him. He was there. In every facet of her mind. 

All she could smell was the horrid stench of his breath, after six too many glasses of his favorite malt liquor. Her brain flashing images of how fast he could cross a room. Hearing his voice, so loud, screaming her name it leaves her ears ringing.  
Tasting the coppery taste of her own blood in her mouth (her lip was actually bleeding but she hadn’t really been able to notice).

But overall she’s overwhelmed by how much she can feel him on her. His hands‒but this time not just on her arm, and not always that gentle. 

And sometimes not that violent either. 

His gaze and how it always managed to trap her. His breath in her face, warm, way too warm. 

And she’s so lost in herself that she doesn't realize she had been rocking back and forth, disassociating with everything around her. Or the fact that her whole body was trembling while her eyes kept leaking silent tears, or that her breath was way too fast and her chest felt way too tight, and her lungs were on fire, and she just can’t seem to breathe. 

Then there was a hand on her again. But it felt different. So much so that it jolted her enough to look and see an actual hand gently rested on her leg. She immediately relaxed, the rings and leather band around the wrist assured her who it was. She moved her eyes up his arm to his torso. But didn’t make her way to his eyes until he spoke. For the first time? Probably not. But it was the first time she actually heard him. 

“You need to breathe darlin’, just breathe.” And she could see him looking at her, her looking at him, but couldn’t quite place the look on his face. 

And he was right, she couldn’t. The air felt like it was choking her, and she couldn’t help but feel like she was drowning. And she kept looking at him and she heard what he was saying, but she just couldn’t. 

So he reached out to her and pulled her against his chest. She wrapped her arms around him, holding on for dear life, and he did the same. But instead of clinging to her like a lifeline, he softly rubbed circles into her back. Once again speaking but more softly, his voice mumbling into her neck, due to her head resting on his shoulder. 

“Feel me breathing? Just do the same thing okay?” She tried really hard to focus on the up and down movement of his chest crashing into hers. “Slow down, just inhale.” She could feel him fill up his lungs and hold it there for a second. She tried to mirror him. “And exhale.” And while he smoothly let the air out she felt hers sputtering out of her lungs. 

He was still holding on to her and he was still rubbing up and down her back. She was okay. 

She tried again, and each time he guided her through it.

“Just like that...just breathe.” 

And eventually she started to feel air run its way smoothly through her chest again, and she had managed to stop shaking so violently. And whether it was the sudden drop of adrenaline running through her veins, or maybe the fact that for the first time since she was sitting on that picnic table that she felt safe, she started to cry. Not like the silent tears that escaped her eyes just earlier, but a flood of emotion escaping her. 

All of the pain, and the fear, and the memories, finding their way out of her and into a puddle on Rio’s blue button up. And he just let her. Not letting go.

She heard quiet murmurs through her sobs, not quite sure what they were at first. But once she got herself to calm down, although not fully, she was able to figure it out. 

He was humming. 

Lightly.

Barely. 

But he was. 

And the thing was she recognized the song as soon as she heard him. For it was the same one Ruby would sing to her when they were kids, when Beth, on rare nights would break down, and Ruby would hold her and sing her to sleep.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

And here she was, broken again, but this time not in Ruby’s arms. This time in those of the man she had shot. Put three bullets in his chest and walked down the stairs as he lay dying. 

You make me happy, when skies are grey

The sounds of him gurgling up blood still haunts her dreams sometimes. 

You’ll never know dear

In the arms of the man who told her he would kill her. And Beth knows he meant. 

How much I love you

In the arms of the man who for all reason, should hate her. Should push her away. But instead is holding her tightly but gently at the same time. Holding together her broken pieces, as if she deserves it. 

Please don’t take my sunshine away

And it makes her cry harder. 

Eventually she stops. The overwhelming wave that came over her crashed, and now she was just...still. The only sound in the car was her breathing and his, matching together. She wasn’t sure if she should let go yet. He was so warm and tucked into his chest she could smell him. His embrace was something she guilily admitted, on the darkest of nights, that she missed. 

But she pulled away. 

She lifted her head off of him as she unwrapped her arms. But before fully leaving the comfort of his space, she looked up hesitantly into his eyes.

“Thank you.” And she knew she had to look away, because the way he was looking at her was something she couldn’t get used to. It wasn’t real. It was just….

He slowly nodded in response. And then it was too much and she actually did look away. 

That’s when she noticed the big wet spot she had left on his shirt. For a second she almost reached out to touch it. He saw her looking and followed her gaze.

“I didn’t mean to.” She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Sorry.”

He quickly shook his head.

“S’fine.” He coughed a few times clearing his throat. “No big deal.”

She wasn’t sure if he was just talking about the shirt...or well...all of it. Before she could think it through though he was offering to drive her home.

“Get in the front seat yeah?”

This time, both of them using their own door, they got out of the backseat. As she was opening the passenger side, she expected him to do the same. Instead he just stood there watching her. 

“Get in. I’ll be back in a sec.” She was too tired to even try and question him, so she got in and settled herself to lean and look against the window. 

While Beth was lost in her thoughts, trying to understand what the hell just happened, Rio was having a very curt conversation with car-man, informing him to “take that Brady Bunch somewhere else, because Elizabeth needs some space.” 

And then he got in the car and drove her home. 

She didn’t look up when he entered, and kept her eyes out the window the whole time. And except for when he informed her what he told Dean, it was dead silent the entire drive. She barely even realized he had parked in front of her house until he cleared his throat.

She looked at him then, and in a whole new way, didn’t know what to say to him. Because even now, a drive’s time worth of getting to think, for both of them, he was still looking at her differently. Ever since the day in her bedroom, and definitely since he popped back into existence, his face was blank, if not often full of hostility. And she accepted that’s all she would get from him from now on. The closest to anything but that would be his smiles. But all of those were a further way to implement his cruel and indifferent persona.

But now his usually sharp edges he used to guard himself seemed softened. And Beth didn’t know what to do with that. But she had to say something. 

“Thank you.” Because what else could she say? 

She reached her hand down to pull the car door handle and then she turned her head.

“Goodnight Beth.” 

And her head whipped back around. Confusion clear on her face. Rio in response raised his eyebrow, also clearly confused by her reaction.

“Did you just call me Beth?” She was very thrown.

“Yeah? It’s your name isn’t it?” Now he seemed almost annoyed but not really angry. 

“Well yeah.” Beth scoffed, almost feeling like herself again. “But you don’t call me that. Since when have you not called me Elizabeth?”

She saw him look at her and then look away clenching his jaw for a second and then rubbing his face as he let out a sigh. Clearly trying to find it within himself to find a response for her. He turned to look at her, mask partly back on again. 

“Yeah, I didn’t think that was such a good idea right now.” 

And then she realized. Before she had been so focused on just the fact that she saw her father. That he was actually there, and then more focused on convincing herself he wasn’t. She actually didn’t give much thought on what he had actually said until afterwards.

And yes it makes sense why he would think that would bother her. But for some reason it didn’t. She had suppressed all of that part of her childhood deep down that she didn’t even make the connection. And although today it had spilt over, it didn’t really change anything. But she didn’t really know how to explain it. 

“No, really…” She looked in his eyes. “It’s fine.” 

He looked at her disbelievingly. How could she formulate it into words?

“You're not anything like him.” And although she was feeling better, her breakdown from earlier still felt like it was scrambling her brain and she didn’t know if she was saying too much or too little. 

The way he kept looking at her made it harder and harder to think, so she stopped meeting his gaze so she was able to go on.

“Annie can’t remember because she was too young but I didn’t always go by Beth. He..My father...” She swallowed down the bitterness on her tongue. “Well actually both of my parents called me that, but when he left I think it bothered my mom so I changed it.” Rio had his body angled toward her now slowly nodding along. Listening. 

She was only able to quickly look up at him before starting again.

“I know that I should--” She exhaled heavily and then steeled her voice. She was tired of feeling so defeated today. 

“It doesn’t bother me because I learned early on to block out his words, so really only his voice is...difficult to hear. It’s my name, he doesn’t get to ruin it, especially when…” And then she caught herself on the verge of spilling a little too much. Shit, maybe she was already way past that point but suddenly she felt way too vulnerable. Even if he had been holding her in his arms an hour earlier. 

She cleared her throat and looked up at him. 

“It’s not the same. So yes. Really. It’s fine.” And then she had the sudden urge to leave because she couldn’t handle the softness in eyes anymore, and she was really tired, and now really embarrassed, even more so that she made such a big deal about her fricking name. So she looked at him one more time and then actually popped open her door. 

“Goodnight Rio.” 

And right before she slammed the door closed, ready to leave him, and this night behind her, she heard him whisper.

“Goodnight Elizabeth.” 

…

He watches her walk to the front door, and go inside. And so what if he gave her a slight nod while she smiled at him when she turned to close the door. 

And now he sits there, hands on the steering wheel, gazing in his rear view mirror to the backseat. He thought of how in that moment all he wanted was to comfort her. To erase all of the pain and terror screaming out of her body. 

And Rio thought that’s what he wanted. To see her truly terrified. But as he watched her walk inside he found himself wanting to follow her. When he thinks back to the look on her face and the tremble that took over her body, he thinks he would do anything for that never to happen again. 

But he shouldn’t care.

They were past that. All he had left to give her was hate. Things between him and Elizabeth were too fucked up to be anything else. 

But he can’t move past how defeated she looked. How broken. And how good it felt to hold her and try and put her back together again. 

So if he found himself calling up his boys telling them they had someone to take care of? Well let’s just say he would deal with what that meant later. Because all he knew at this moment was he never wanted her to be afraid of something, someone, like that again. Yesterday he would have said maybe only if it was him. Now, still sitting in front of her house, he wasn’t exactly sure how true that was anymore. 

You aren’t anything like him.

He thinks back to all the times he told her he would kill her, and now he isn’t sure how close those were to lies. There was a reason she was still breathing. And if it wasn’t to fuck with her for his amusement, even if that’s what he told his boys‒and himself on those nights he still felt an ache in his shoulder and it harder to breathe. Then why was it?

She was his mistake. His miscalculation. His rotten egg. 

She was the one thing that proved him incapable. 

But...

She was Elizabeth.

So when he arrived at the warehouse, he pulled out his gun, and raised it to the head of the man in front of him. Phil Marks was tied with rope behind his back, duct tape covering his mouth, and a gash on his cheek. Rio looked into his eyes, the same blue as hers, and watched him tremble and beg. He laughed, made sure the man’s eyes were locked on his own, and then pulled the trigger. 

And as the sound of the shot still buzzed around him he realized one thing, as he wiped off blood that was essentially hers off the side of his face. He knew, as much as he should, he doesn’t regret her. Regret them. Even despite the three holes she left in him, he knows killing her would change that. 

She had taken up so much of him it’s like she had stolen parts of him for herself. And he refused to give up anymore unwillingly. 

So he refused to regret her. Because he just couldn’t.

Because she was Elizabeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.....that was it!
> 
> This was my first fic in this fandom so I really hope you liked it and did the characters justice.
> 
> Please let me know what you think in the comments!
> 
> Tell me if I should write more, because I definitely have some ideas, and am totally open to new ones!


End file.
